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McCain Was For Embryonic Stem Cell Research While He Was Against It by oldandcranky Sun Sep 14, 2008 at 09:22:11 PM PDT Politicians sometimes take a stand for a policy. Sometimes they take a stand against a policy. Sometimes they are for a policy before they change their mind and are against it. With embryonic stem cell research, McCain has found a new path - he's for it at the very same time he is against it. That is, if you can believe his latest ads (and it's not that easy to believe McCain campaign ads). oldandcranky's diary :: :: Embryonic stem cell research has vast potential for medical research. Cures for diseases as diverse as diabetes and Parkinson's might be found through research using embryonic stem cell research. There is a problem, however - it requires the destruction of embryos. If you believe, as John McCain told Pastor Rick Warren he believes, that life begins at conception, you can't just go snuffing embryos. If life begins at conception, it begins at conception, and those embryos are human beings that shouldn't be killed. That's why most serious pro lifers reject embryonic stem cell research. McCain used to be for stem cell research, and he used to be somewhat of middle grounder on abortion rights. That was before, post 2000, he decided he had to give the social conservatives whatever pounds of flesh they wanted if he was to become President. This year, in line with his new found belief that life begins at conception, he is running on a Republican party platform that would bar abortions even in cases of rape and incest. It had been expected that he would moderate his position on stem cells as well. This week, however, he started a new round of ads promoting his support of stem cell research. In case there was any doubt, McCain spokesman Brian Rogers made clear to TheHill.com that McCain supports all kinds of stem cell research, including embryonic. The net is, an embryo is life that must be protected if it is inside your raped daughter. It's apparently not life if it's in a petri cell at a pharma company lab. Maybe the idea is to make McCain look like a "maverick." Maybe it's a sop to big Pharm, which has wanted government funding to develop stem cell research all along. Maybe McCain wants to cue in the social conservatives, who have been doing happy feet over the Palin pick, that he's not too principled to lie to them and screw them over when expediency warrants. Any way you cut it, though, his position on embryonic cell research is inconsistent with life beginning at conception. So here's straight talk John McCain, being for life beginning at conception at the same time he's against it. Rayilyn Brown Director AZNPF Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation [log in to unmask] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn